Open-source Selective Laser Sintering (OpenSLS) of nylon and biocompatible polycaprolactone

Introduction: Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing process in which a laser patterns powdered starting materials into solid 3D structures in a layer-by-layer manner. Features which are challenging to fabricate using other additive processes (e.g. overhangs, underhangs, branches, and bifurcations) are readily accessible using SLS. SLS has found great utility in the fabrication of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and patient-specific splints for human airway stabilization. Despite the potential for fabrication of complex, high-resolution structures with SLS using diverse materials (including biomaterials), prohibitive costs of commercial systems have hindered the wide adoption of this technology in the scientific community. We hypothesized that a consumer laser cutter could be used in conjunction with open-source hardware and software to inexpensively perform SLS. Here, we implemented and characterized sintering with polymers and biomaterials, introduced post-processing techniques for sintered parts, and demonstrated biocompatibility of sintered polycaprolactone (PCL).